Speech, “Boy” Win Top Toronto Honors

Shawn Ku’s drama “Beautiful Boy” and Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech” took the top two honours during the announcement of the annual awards that mark the closing of the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Cadillac People’s Choice Award went to ‘Speech’, the period drama starring Colin Firth as King George VI who must overcome his stammer with the help of an Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) to lead his country into war. Justin Chadwick’s “First Grader” was the runner-up.

The FIPRESCI Prize from the International Federation of Film Critics went to ‘Boy’, a drama starring Michael Sheen and Maria Bello as a separated couple dealing with the aftermath of their estranged son who went on a massacre at his college before committing suicide.

The City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian Feature went to Denis Villeneuve’s stage play adaptation “Incendies” about brother-and-sister twins who go to the Middle East in search of their tangled family history as a promise to their late mother.

The International Critics Prize for Special Presentations was handed out to Pierre Thoretton’s documentary “L’Amour Fou” about the relationship between fashion mogul Yves Saint-Laurent and his lover Pierre Berge.